Since I am a noob when it comes to camcorders I figured I would call on you guys to give me a hand. <BR> <BR>Functionally the camcorder has to be able to shoot in HD in interior lighting conditions, last at least an hours worth of shooting, be fairly rugged, preferably with a flash drive. <BR> <BR>I will be using it for recording the kids (twins on the way) and just general stuff like that. <BR> <BR>The budget is no more than 750 dollars. <BR> <BR>Any suggestions would be appreciated.

im in the same boat.....i know nothing about HD cams though after reviews Im leaning towards an HV30.......still trying to figure out the 24p thing.......I know the hv40 is native 24 and the 30 is not. from what I understand it can be converted via a pulldown (whatever that is). Still dont know why people shoot in 24 30i and 60 i. I need to learn. Oh and the hv30 is not flash its HDV

I have been looking at the Canon HF200, it shoots in 24p and i think that it is referring to progressive mode or 24 mega bytes per second??? or something like that. I think that the difference between the items is to prevent blurring, for example if you are recording a football game you could get fading as a player went by or ghosting (gaming term) the higher the number the less likly.......I think

HF200 does 24p through pulldown too. 24p is 24 progressive scan frames per second <BR> <BR>refurbished HV30 $499 <BR><a href="http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4682274&amp;SRCCODE=CCDTBARG&amp ;cm_mmc_o=-ddCjCawgt_zyTzbElCjC-d2CjC-uu" target="_blank">http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4682274&amp;SRCCODE=CCDTBARG&amp ;cm_mmc_o=-ddCjCawgt_zyTzbElCjC-d2CjC-uu</a> <BR> <BR>Biggest drawback I find on the flash based cams is that they don't have a viewfinder. I hate tracking fast moving action with an LCD screen.